Monday, June 18, 2007

Evangelist Yes, Debater No!

I had a chance to listen to the debate last Thursday on the Drew Mariani Show between Tim Staples and Mike Gendron. I thought it was actually pretty interesting.

From the start, Tim Staples dominated Mike Gendron. Apart from a brief moment near the middle of the debate, Mr. Gendron was never really able to string together a convincing argument to any points raised. And at times what he said didn’t seem to have much at all to do with what Tim Staples was even talking about. It was apparent very early on that the debate was between an apologist/debater and an evangelist. In fact, at times, Mike Gendron seemed to be reading material directly off his own website!

That’s when it dawned on me that while Tim Staples was actually debating, Mr. Gendron, knowing that he had little chance of outdebating Mr. Staples, decided to use the time he had to “preach the Gospel” to thousands and thousands of “deceived” Catholics. He would begin by acknowledging what Tim Staples had said, put up a quick and weak argument, and move on to something that had little to do with the topic at hand.

So in the end what are we left with?

We’re left with convincing evidence that the Bible needs an authoritative interpreter. The more Mr. Staples and Mr. Gendron’s arguments differ, the more proof we have. The inescapable fact is that the Bible can be twisted and contorted to support most any position, and the best a debate of this kind can do is bring this point out and hopefully lead protestants to recognize that there must exist an absent source of authority.

3 comments:

My veiw is pretty much the same. The verses that Mr. Staples brought up that were to warn christians Mr. Gendron sluffed off by basically saying, he wasn't speaking to true Christians. Apostates are not really apostates because they never really were true Christians. Huh?